heal the world

it’s been a while, but with the covid-19 pandemic, i’ve been spending more time at home and therefore I decided to spend some time on my ‘garden’… Despite living in a condo, I have few balconies and half of one is dedicated to my plants, flowers and vegetables. Of course, you want to choose plants or vegetables that grow well in your area. For me, this is what is working well so far: aloe vera, snake plant, sweet potatoes, mint, and few green plants.

Aloe Vera:

If you are growing them in containers, you can delicately take the new plants and put them in their own pots. When you have nice big leaves, you can cut them and get the gel for skin products or healthy drinks.

Sweet potatoes

Once you have nice roots, you can just transfer them to soil either in a big container or directly in your garden if you have one. They will need 3 to 4 months to grow and you can harvest them when the vine is started to get yellow. I’ll post my results then with hopefully a big harvest of sweet potatoes. here are the ones I planted few weeks ago:

Mint

You can grow mint directly from cuttings. I bought mine at the market and kept few for planting. There are many different type of mint you can grow.

Once you have nice roots, you can transfer your cuttings to soil and let your mint grow. you can then harvest few leaves when needed or get some cuttings to grow more plants.

Snake plant

It is quite nice to plant a garden and see your plants, flowers and vegetables growing. Make sure you start with few easy to grow varieties or types. They will also attract some bees and birds which is an added benefit for our world. There’s plenty of things you can grow whether you have an outside garden, a balcony or only limited indoor space. But make sure you choose what is adapted to your situation. Please put some comments and pictures with your results and what you are growing. Plant a garden and help save the world.

if you’ve been here regularly, you know that on february 2019 i started a 6 months challenge where I would attempt to implement a new sustainable practice per week for 6 months in order to do my part to heal the world. The 6 months will be over soon but I think it is already time to check how it went.

what has been achieved:

As part of this 6 months challenge, I published 11 posts (it should have been 26…). On my road to reducing waste, I did the following (and published articles about it):

• replace buying 1.5 littles bottles of water by getting 18.9 liters bottle delivered to my own and reused when emptied
• stopped purchasing deodorants and replace it with an alum stone (has been lasting for 5 months already and I expect another 6 or 7 months)
• composting small papers, food waste and organic waste instead of throwing it in the garbage
• stopped purchasing plastic toothbrushes and replaced them with bamboo ones.
• stopped purchasing yogurts and making my own ones in glass reusable pots.
• stopped purchasing toothpaste, making my own with zero waste ingredients
• stopped purchasing liquid or packaged soaps, and replacing with either my own soaps or soap bars
• reduced waste when travelling by carrying my own soap, toothbrush, shaver, water bottles…
• stopped purchasing bottled shampoo and buying it in zero waste shops in my own reusable bottles
• stopped purchasing shaving foam

In addition to that, I also heavily reduced:

• my plastic bag usage (almost none) and started recycling the ones I end up getting.
• my consumption of packaged food, either eating out or buying zero waste or food in recycled recipients

I also started a page with zero waste shops in Bangkok.

Finally I created a heal the world facebook page where I share events and posts about environmental issues. New blog posts on this site are also automatically posted on the facebook page.

I hope all this also pushed some of you to act and take some actions to help heal the world.

what has not been achieved:

well I should have wrote 26 articles and ended up with only 11. I ended up finding difficult to find a practice a week to change (the first ones were easy) and also being busy traveling and doing other things. I have not yet been able to build a community of readers ready to help heal the world though I do have several people reading the posts/shares on my facebook page.

what is next?

i have no plan to start another such challenge at the moment, but I still want to help heal the world, so I will keep posting relevant articles here and/or on my facebook page. I am also looking into things that can be done on a larger scale, whether it is reducing waste, improving recycling, developing sustainable power sources, support forest restoration and protection… if you want to see other things here, as usual please comment below or reach me on the contact page.

The next step in my 6 months challenge is to reduce the waste produced by shaving, whether foam or razors.

It is estimated that 2 billions disposable razors are thrown away each year… and that does not include the foams bottles, the blades of the non-disposables razors… so let’s see how we can reduce that. I mostly don’t use disposable razors unless i realized I forgot my razor on a working trip… My shaving routine is using an electric razor during the working days and no shave during holidays/week-ends unless a special event requires it. Though that means that on monday or first day back at work, I have a longer beard and the electric razor is not doing a very good job. So these days I use a gillette MAC3 bought several years ago (however I don’t remember when is the last time I changed the blades). These days I also use shaving foam.

alternative to disposable razors

I’ve started looking for an alternative to that razor for when my MAC3 blades are not cutting anything. ( you may want to sharpen them by shaving a piece of old jean, it does improve the shaving experience a bit). One of the best alternative to disposable razor is using a safety razor and recycling the blades. if you live in Thailand, you can find a choice of such razors (that should last you a lifetime) and blades online at man of siam or siam wet shave. There are also cheaper alternatives available on shoppee or lazada. I haven’t tried yet using a safety razor but it seems no more dangerous than another razor, though it may take some time getting used to it.

zero waste shaving foam/soap

What about shaving foam? your first option is actually to replace it with soap, using your bar of soap (homemade or purchase with zero, recyclable or reusable packaging). That’s what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks using my home made soap. Alternatives would be to buy a natural shaving soap or cream in a reusable container (you can find some from lush for example). If you like the DIY road, you could also do your own soap/cream such as: shaving cream soap from diynatural, shaving soap from the things we’ll make or shaving foam from wellness mama.

Hope this helps you find a less wasteful shaving routine (and yes sharpening your existing blades and make them last longer is less wasteful…) and you help heal the world. As usual, please leave any comment or question below. If you want to see more steps I have taken to reduce my waste, please check my 6 months challenge page.

As part of my 6 months challenge to heal the world, I now decided to stop buying single use shampoo bottles. For now, I decided not to do my own shampoo but i’ll give some links if you want to go that way.

Instead of buying such shampoo bottles, i’ll reuse a plastic dispenser I have from previous purchase. And i’ll refill it with shampoo purchased in bulk at one of these 2 locations:

zeromoment refillery: this is the best place I have found so far in Bangkok to buy in bulk for things you cannot find at the market. They have cleaning and hygiene products, but they also have food (dried nuts, dried fruits, oil, ingredients…). They are also very open to add items people would be interested in getting.

Refill station: this is one is more oriented towards cleaning and hygiene products but they have some food as well. It is also a coffee shop where you can enjoy your drink and snacks without waste.

If you want to do your own shampoo, you can check below, please note that I have not tried those:
natural diy clarifying shampoo
bicarb vinegar hair wash
zero waste shampoo conditioner

Short post for today but that will give you ideas to stop buying single use shampoo bottles (without using soap to wash your hair…). If you want to check my other posts, I suggest you go to my 6 months challenge page to see a link to all. Please comment below.

With the Songkran holiday (Thai New Year), we went to Australia for a week. This means I missed my weekly sustainable practice but I will post here how you can generate less waste when traveling.

What you should pack:

First of all, if you’re flying make sure that you either check a luggage or you don’t have anything prohibited in your cabin luggage. (you don’t want to have to throw away your powder, liquid, knife… if you’re trying to reduce waste…). I won’t go here in the debate other emissions generated by carbon. We went to Australia from Thailand so yes we took a plane.

your favorite reusable bottle: you will most likely need it during your trip to avoid plastic bottles. I recommend to keep it on board the plane. Of course, you need to empty before security check, but you can then in most places, fill it before getting on the plane. If you can’t fill it in the airport before getting on the plane, you can ask the flight attendants to fill it for you once on the plane (unless you’re traveling on a low cost airline). This will allow you to avoid single use plastic bottles during the flight or your trip. you can find some soft, collapsible reusable bottle to reduce waste and space.

your favorite reusable mug: Again, recommend to keep that in your hand luggage so you can use it on the plane for your drinks instead of plastic glasses or cups. You will also need it when you purchase a coffee or other drink on the go. Again soft, collapsible mug can be used.

cutlery: Here again, if you travel by plane, I would recommend to take the spoon and fork with you so you can use it for your food there. Obviously if you need to pack a knife, put it in your check luggage. You don’t need to buy any special cutlery, just take them from what you have at home.

toiletries: in order to avoid using the soap and shampoo provided from the hotel, make sure you take your own with you. ( Some hotel are now using refillable dispensers or containers but unless you’re sure it’s the case, you better bring your own). Bar soap is easier to transport. If you take liquid (shower gel, shampoo…) with you on the plane make sure each container contains less than 100ml and show them in a transparent container through security. (a reusable plastic zip bag is probably the best).

reusable shopping bags: You will most likely do some shopping during your trip so make sure you pack some reusable shopping bags. (Check about your destination beforehand, you may find out that single use plastic bags are banned there or not given by shops).

what else to consider

recycling: Unfortunately, what can be recycled varies greatly from place to place, so make sure you check what can be recycled where you are so you put things at the right place.

souvenirs: Shop responsibly, prefer sustainable products, local handicraft, locally produce food… avoid as much packaging as possible and don’t buy things you know will end up in cabinet somewhere or taking dust…

Enjoy your holidays: Remember this is your time to rest and enjoy. Don’t get obsessed with generating zero waste. What is the most important is what you do every day, rather than what you do once in a while.

Well I hope this post helps you to reduce your impact by generating less waste when travelling. Remember every little bit helps and you deserve to reward yourself from time to time for all the good things you do. Don’t worry too much about some waste that you have to generate during your holidays. What you’re doing everyday to save the planet is more important.

As usual, please comment with your questions/ideas below so I can add/edit the post with things I may have forgotten. You can review my 6 months challenge posts here. And thanks for following us and doing your part to heal the world.

Latest step in my 6 months challenge to heal the world, I have stopped using packaged soap. There are few alternatives to do that, but we decided to make our own soap (Thanks Nad).

how to make your own soap

We decided to make your soap with Olive Oil (poramace), avocado oil and coconut oil. The other ingredient is lye or Sodium Hydroxide. Lye is used to make soap, ie saponification is the process of converting fat into soap. It is important to handle lye carefully as it is highly corrosive. Don’t worry though, the saponification process means that, if you use the right amount of oil, there will be only soap left and no lye.

How do you make sure you have the right amount of lye and oils? We use brambleberry lye calculator to find out. It is very easy to use and give you the amount of lye for a number of different oils and butters. The superfatting level asked for the calculation is basically how oily you want your soap to be. This is a personal preference, you will have to test. We made a 10% superfatted soap. Once you have entered the superfatting level, choosen liquid or solid soap (we made solid soap) and selected grams or ounces, you have to put the quantity of your oils and butters. Then you will get the amount of lye and water (grams of liquid) to be used.

The first step will be to dissolve the lye in the water. Be careful the dissolution of lye is a highly exotermic reaction so it will generate a lot of heat. Therefore, please make sure you wear gloves (and protective gloves as well) and glasses. You will need glass recipients to handle lye and a metal spoon. It is also recommended to have a large bottle of white vinegar ready in case you spill lye on anything. (the white vinegar will react with the lye and neutralize it). Put the quantity of water indicated in the glass recipient. slowly add the lye in the recipient without making any splashes.

Once the dissolution is finished, wait for the lye water to cool down while you prepare your oils and/or butters. Mix the oils and butters together (heating them if needed). Finally add the lye water to the mix and stir slowly and in short bursts with a blender until you get a slurry mixture. You can then pour it in your molds and leave it until it solidifies, 48 hours to make sure saponification is complete. You can then let your soap cure for few weeks (like you would let a cheese age 😉 ) to get it more solid and better. (try to keep some even longer until you find the perfect time).

You have a natural soap and there is no more reason for you to by any more packaged soap. You will also save money… If you want, you can add flagrance and color to your soap but we just used the nature one.

Alternatives

you don’t want to use commercial packaged soap anymore but you’re not ready to do your own? don’t worry, there are options for you. First, here in Thailand, it is easy to find handmade soap on markets or souvenirs shops. You can find some soap bars with minimal paper packaging. Or you can buy bulk soap at one of the refilling stations available in Bangkok.

Thanks for reading that far, please post your questions or comments below. please go to see my 6 months challenge page if you want to see all my other articles to reduce impact on our world. And remember all this is not about the waste we are not generating, it is also about all the products that companies will stop producing if everybody shops more responsibly.

Going on with my 6 months challenge to heal the world, i started doing my own toothpaste so i control what I put in my mouth and don’t need to throw away plastic tubes after plastic tubes.

Why toothpaste?

This is something we all use on a daily basis. Most of the tubes you buy are individually wrapped (in cardboard box but still) and tubes end up in the trash after a week or so. The second concern about toothpaste is the products used to make industrial toothpaste such as triclosan, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Propylene Glycol… I’ll leave fluoride out of the list since the debate is still on.

how to make your own toothpaste?

I’m not a dentist so if you’re worried about using a home made toothpaste, please check with your dentist. The same applies if you have specific needs or issues with your teeth or gums.

The basic ingredients are baking soda and coconut oil (some people prefer to use glycerin, this is another ingredient up for debate…) which you can both buy without any waste at zero moment refillery in Bangkok. You can also find both these ingredients in any supermarket in Thailand (but in plastic packaging/bottle). Depending of the temperature where you are, your coconut oil may be solid, in which case you will have to warm it up a little bit. Here it is already liquid, too liquid. The proportions will depend of the liquidity of your coconut oil as well. Mix your baking soda and your coconut oil to obtain a paste. Here i probably put up about half baking soda and half coconut oil. (You can also put it in the fridge if your room is too hot and your toothpaste does not solidify, just remember to take it out some time before you use it).

This will make a salty toothpaste (baking soda), so if you prefer a sweetened one you can add stevia powder. If you prefer some other taste, you could add cacao powder (again you can find it at zero moment refillery) to improve taste and remineralize your teeth. This can also help make your toothpaste more solid. One more ingredient you can put is bentonite clay.

Baking soda is abrasive and if you have sensitive teeth, you may want to be careful about its use and put less than I did. Of course, if using your home made toothpaste is giving you issues, stop immediately and either find another recipe or talk to your dentist.

Alternatives

So what do you do if you don’t want to make your own toothpaste? Some people actually say you can brush your teeth without any toothpaste. The how and how often you brush them is more important than with what you brush… I woudn’t go that far to recommend this though. You could try to use natural soap (without glycerine and try to avoid essentials oil). Some people however have a hard time putting soap in their mouth… if you can you could make your own castile soap (zero waste & co has some workshops in Bangkok). Lush Thailand has toothy tabs you could try. iherb sells coconut toothpaste which has only natural ingredients, but i’m not sure about the packaging. if you go to the US or Canada regularly you could use bite toothbits.

Thanks for staying with me that long and hope you learned interesting things. Don’t hesitate to ask questions or comments below and i’ll get back to you soon. Please check my 6 months challenge post to get a link to all the weekly steps. If you have ideas or questions regarding other sustainable practice also don’t hesite to leave a comment. Hope you will find a sustainable alternative for your toothpaste whether you decide to make your own or not.

As one more week passes by, my next step in my 6 months challenge is to stop buying yogurts in individual plastic pots. Instead, I reuse glasses containers to do my own home made yogurt.

I enjoy plain yogurt and it is a good source of probiotics. It is also a good source of calcium and a low calorie food. You can buy yogurts anywhere in Bangkok though you have to be careful about the many brands coming with a lot of sugar. And then, each pot is going to waste.

Therefore I’m doing my own. Except the first one for the culture (every once in a while). That way, the only waste I generate is the milk carton. (unfortunately I have not found a zero waste milk source here yet, if you know of any, please leave a comment below).

how to do your home made yogurts

it’s actually very easy. I use a yogurt maker that I got from France 10 years ago or so.

I get a plain yogurt from my own making or a commercial one if i’m getting started. I take 1 L of milk (either fresh or UHT, plain or low fat as you prefer). Then you just mix the yogurt and milk properly and pour into single yogurt containers (I do 6 yogurts at once). Put all the individual containers into the yogurt maker and set it to 10 hours. (Make sure your yogurt maker is clean).

10 hours later you have 6 yogurts ready to be closed and put in the fridge.

The next day you can start enjoying your yogurts:

frequently asked questions

Can you use any type of yogurt to start?
So far, this has worked with every yogurt I have tried here, whether bulgaria, dutch milk, danone, Carolina,… I can’t say it will work with all but no bad experiences so far. The last one was dutch milk yogurt and this is my preferred one for now.

Do I need a yogurt maker?
The weather being hot in Thailand, there are people doing their own yogurts without a yogurt maker, just warm the mix (milk + yogurt) and kept in a closed container for 8 to 10 hours (or a little more if the temperature is a bit low).

Where can I buy a yogurt maker?
Mine was a gift from my family in France, but you can actually find some here on lazada for example. Verasu has some model as well.

Can I use any milk?
Again, i’m not sure but so far i’ve use plain and low fat milk, fresh and UHT with no issues at all.

Hope you enjoyed this article and more of you will start making their own home made yogurts to save the individual pots. As usual if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. If you want to see all the other steps I have taken to help heal the world, please check my 6 months challenge.

Hi again, as part of my 6 months challenge to live more sustainably, this week I’ll discuss about reducing single plastic use, whether bags, cups, glasses…

Plastic problem in Thailand

Living in Thailand, this seems like an impossible task, plastic is everywhere whether it is bags, cups, glasses, cutlery, straws… on average, each Thai person uses eight plastic bags per day, which equates to almost 200 billion bags each year. Thailand is one of the main contributors to plastic pollution in the world. We are very far from countries such as France where everybody goes shopping with reusable bags.

Luckily things are changing

Thanks to people like Lily, awareness is growing. Cashiers at main shops now understand when you request no plastic bags, nor straw or cutleries. Some of the shops (tesco lotus, tops…) are actually encouraging people bringing reusable bags by offering rewards points. Decathlon is also showing the way by not giving free plastic bags but selling them, very effective way of reducing their usage. Tops supermarket have stopped to give plastic bags every 4th of the month. While it is only a single day per month, it brings awareness. It is nowadays more common to find people bringing their own bags for shopping. The government seems to make some progress though it is way too slow. Thai national parks are now banning plastic bags and styrofoam containers. Unfortunately some of these announces are no more than that, but we can all help make sure things change.

We can easily reduce our plastic use

Convenient reusable bags are sold everywhere (from markets, online shops, supermarkets…) and quite cheap. We just need to remember carrying them with us (we now leave some in the car, including cooling bags useful for shopping here). Some very small tissue bags are quite easy to put in your pockets. I also always have some in my office bag if I buy some fruits or food for dinner. We are now refusing most of the bags at 7/11, tops, supermarket…

While shopping at the markets, the seller will be happy to put goods in your own bags or reusable containers (for meat for example). That way they don’t have to pay for the bags. Some will even happily give you something in exchange or give you some small discount. It is just a change of habit, it is easy to take boxes and bags with you once you get used to it.

It is very common in Thailand to buy ready to eat food and here again it is very often packed in plastic or worse, styrofoam boxes. Well, most of the shop sellers will be happy to use your own container if you have one (at least for the food you order on demand or not packed in advance). There are also alternatives now coming with bamboo or paper based boxes such as fest for food from SCG. With the production increasing, the price of these alternatives is decreasing and they will be soon cheaper. We can also help ensure their usage grow by choosing to use vendors/shops that are using such boxes. Sometimes we underestimate as consumers the power we have. But if all consumers refuse to buy products damaging the environment, soon they will disappear from the shops.

bring your reusable cup/glass

Thailand being a very hot country there are also plenty of places selling drinks. Therefore the number of plastic glasses, put into plastic bags with plastic straws can be huge. We are seeing more and more reusable cups or glasses that people carry with them to these shops. Again the sellers will be happy to use your glass rather than having to purchase a disposable one. Some shops will also give you a discount when you come with your own cup/glass (amazon for example). So from now on we carry our own glasses and if needed reusable straw.

In addition of bringing our own bags, we also look for eco-friendly packages which is not always easy in Thailand. Though some plastic is recycled here, it is mostly only the bottles. Over plastic packaging though it may be recycled is usually not. So the better choice is to shop package free :). It is also healthier since that means less processed food. Once again, the market is often your best friend for such shopping. Fruits and vegetables can be carried in almost any bags (you may want to bring some paper with you in case). Meat, fish, cooked food can easily be put in your own reusable containers.

As you see it is not that complicated to join the reducing single plastic use movement. Since there is so much plastic use here, it is actually easy to find ways to reduce our usage.

As usual, please don’t hesitate to comment below, ask your questions… You can also see my related posts by looking at my 6 months challenge page. Talk to you soon.

Hi again, i’m a month in my 6 months challenge. I have almost stopped using plastic bottles of water ( hard to avoid in some restaurants, though tea, beer, wine or soda water are all better alternatives, or when forgot to carry my refillable bottle). I’m not planning on purchasing another deodorant thanks to my alum stone. All my organic waste is now going to the compost on my balcony and later in my plants. It’s now time to find an alternative to plastic toothbrush. These can last quite long but still every few months throwing a full plastic brush in the bin is not good. I know in some places they are recycled, I don’t think it is the case in Thailand.

What are the options?

well, despite the fact that toothbrush is something used every day by so many people, there is no perfect environmental friendly alternative. Bamboo handles seem to be the way to go, but bristles is another story. If we go back in time (before nylon was invented), toothbrush’s bristles were made of pig hair… I believe you can still find some today, but if you care a little about pigs, I don’t think you should try to get those.

brush naked has a completely biodegradable option here however there are 2 issues with them, first the bristles are a bit hard and second they will last between 2 to 4 weeks… (Note: they are packaged in individual plastic wraps, but this is completely biodegradable plastic). They do have options that last longer using nylon bristles. You could order them online but not i don’t know the shipping fees and custom duties.

I therefore decided to look for the bamboo toothbrush options in Thailand. (you can find many from shopee, however it’s hard to know where they come from and even sometimes what they are made of). I finally got mine at refill station. These are a similar type than the longer lasting models of brush naked. The bristles are made of nylon plastic, i’m still trying to get more details from them.

Your other option is to order from zero waste & co. Again these are not biodegradable bristles, but they use castor bean nylon. Though this should be recyclable, I have yet to find a place where to recycle these here. At least you can compost the handle (or use it to label your plants/flowers in the garden).

Alternatives to toothbrush

You could try to use miswak, a teeth cleaning twig though this does not seem really convenient.

If you are few days without a toothbrush, you could use your finger (With toothpaste if you have any), with a piece of cloth wrapped around it. if nothing else, just swilling water around your mouth is better than nothing. (you can mix in baking soda if you have some).

Flossing could also be an option (to be combined with swilling).

oil pulling (you can use coconut oil for this) can be achieved by using oil as a mouthwash. But it is better to use as a complement of brushing your teeth than a complete replacement.

Oral hygiene is very important and at this time, I have not found a proper alternative to using a toothbrush. So I will go with bamboo toothbrushes until I find a better option.

As usual, please feel free to comment, question this post below.